Cupid Has Bad Aim
by ATightropeToTheWords
Summary: Reyna just has the worst luck, doesn't she? When she gets hit by a love arrow and falls for Leo Valdez, mischief and humor is sure to follow. Who knows? Maybe even a little...romance.
1. The Shot That Started It All

**A/N: Hey! This is my first Leyna chapter story :-) I know the beginning is mostly about my OCs, but I assure you, after a little while it switches so it's completely about Leyna. My OCs are just there at the very beginning in order to get Cupid there so he can...yeah, Imma shut up now and let you read the story. XD Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Me no own Heroes of Olympus. It belongs to Rick Riordan.**

/*\*/*\

Traci Morgan wanted to put an arrow through Michael Alesuis. Her crush of two months. Also the most blind boy in all of Camp Jupiter, or so Traci had decided.

She had already tried many times over to get his attention: she had deliberately bumped into him when they walked by each other, she had tried striking up conversations to no avail, and she had even sent him a note like 10-year-olds did when they liked somebody; "'_I_ _like you, do you like me? Check 'yes' or 'no_'."

Of course, it hadn't helped that Octavian had intercepted the message rather than Michael. Nor did it particularly boost Traci's ego when Octavian promptly turned her down.

No matter what the 15-year-old legacy of Venus tried, Michael remained seemingly oblivious to her attentions. Which frustrated her beyond relief. After all, she was practically perfect in every way: pretty, sweet, pretty, nice, pretty...what more could he possibly want?

Marie, Traci's best friend, watched Traci's attempts at gaining Michael's attention with dry humor, even giving her sarcastic suggestions occasionally ("Why don't you try jumping off of Reyna's pegasus in midair so he has to catch you? Don't worry, I'm sure if you have good aim you won't break too many bones. And even if you do, I hear the legion gets good health benefits.").

This went on for quite a while. Until, however, Marie made one suggestion that was a bit too realistic for Traci to wave it aside.

"Why don't you get Cupid to shoot him with a love arrow?" Marie said with a yawn, stretching out on her bunk contentedly. The deep blue evening sky was visible through the window across from her, and she gazed out at the stars, only half paying attention to Traci's moans of frustration. She had heard the rant before, too many times to count. So many, in fact, that she had been mouthing the familiar words as Traci had been saying them. But the other girl had been too distraught to notice.

Marie had only meant the remark as a bit of wit, hoping to calm her friend down so maybe they could talk about something /other/ than Michael Alesius. However, when Traci's face suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree and a radiant smile spread across her face, Marie knew that there would be trouble to come. She quickly backpedaled.

"I was just kidding, T. I mean, how would you even get Cupid to do that?" Marie questioned, hoping to discourage the thoughts she could practically see swirling through Traci's head. It clearly didn't work, because Traci was swift to tell her exactly _how_ she would manage the feat.

"I'm a legacy of Venus, Marie," the girl said eagerly, her eyes shining as she sat up, apparently unable to sit still because of the new revelation. "I bet I can call in a favor from Venus. She can make Cupid shoot Michael with a love arrow, and I can be there right when it happens so I'm the first person he sees when he looks up..." Traci trailed off, staring into the distance with a dreamy expression on her face. Marie groaned and buried her face in her pillow.

"You are so hopeless, T," she said into the pillow, her voice muffled so the other girl couldn't understand exactly what she said, but she must have heard something, although she probably misheard because she said, in the same dreamy sort of voice she used when talking about Michael:

"Yes. Yes I am..."

/*\*/*\

"Hey, Venus!" Traci said sweetly, smiling up at the statue of the goddess that stood in the middle of a temple on Temple Hill. The statue of Venus described a beautiful woman with long, flowing hair that reached far past her waist and bright eyes that gazed down at you as if they were trying to determine who you would look cute paired up with. A small smile played at her lips teasingly. All in all, she was awe-strikingly beautiful. And not the sort of woman you would want to mess with unless you wanted to suddenly be head-over-heels in love with a monkey.

The statue did not respond to Traci's greeting, of course, but she continued cheerfully anyway.

"I'm Traci Morgan, and I'm, like, you're great great great great-"

"Many times great," Marie cut in impatiently.

"-many times great granddaughter," Traci finished. "And I kinda sorta maybe need a favor. See, there's this guy I like, and he apparently is blind because he hasn't noticed me yet, no matter what I do. I mean, I have tried everything but-"

"Okay, long story short, she wants Cupid to come shoot her lover in the butt with an arrow so they can live happily ever after and I can stop having to listen to her whining every night," Marie interrupted again.

"Yeah, pretty much," Traci agreed. She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet as if she were waiting for the statue of Venus to start talking.

Which it didn't, of course.

However, the statue began to shimmer as if it were made of diamonds, and the air surrounding it blurred like air around open flames. Traci looked at Marie, excitement written all over her face. Marie was staring at the statue with wide eyes. A blinding light filled the temple and Marie had just enough of her wits left to tell Traci to look away as a god in his pure form arrived in the middle of the temple, right in front of the statue of Venus.

When Traci and Marie sensed the blinding light disappear, they turned slowly, lowering their hands and un-shielding their eyes.

The first thing the girls noticed about Cupid was that he was wearing a diaper and nothing else. Which was rather disconcerting considering that he looked to be about forty years old, with long, curly blond sideburns that extended far beyond his ears and a saggy face like a basset hound. He was a short man with a potbelly who overall looked nothing like the adorable cherubs on the fronts of Valentine's day cards, except for the bow he clutched in his hand and the diaper secured around his waist.

Traci gave a squeal of excitement and looked at Cupid in awe while Marie only barely disguised her gag as a cough. Cupid, meanwhile, studied them both with a look of bored indifference as he reached his free hand up to scratch at his mop of shaggy blond hair. He yawned.

"Mom said you two wanted me to shoot somebody?" Cupid said. His voice held traces of a Valley accent that was cringe-worthy.

"Yes, sir," Traci said quickly, getting over her amazement at the god. "Michael Alesuis."

Cupid yawned again and gave a bob of his head. "Yeah, 'kay. Lead me to him," he ordered. Traci was only too happy to oblige, skipping out of the temple giggling with delight with Cupid on her heels. Marie, who brought up the rear, spotted tiny little white wings sprouting out of his bare back. She shuddered.

"This will not end well," she grumbled to herself.

/*\*/*\

"That guy?" Cupid asked a bit too loudly, pointing at Michael. Traci nodded, shuddering compulsively and ducking a bit to escape the tree leaves that stuck down her shirt and tickled her. The girl and the god were hiding out on the edges of the woods surrounding the mess hall, where the son of Bellona was hanging out with that _graceus_, Leo Valdez.

Nearby, Marie was watching, completely un-hidden, with slight amusement, unable to take her eyes off of the scene. It was like watching a train wreck: she wanted to look away, but she just couldn't.

"Now, remember, kid," Cupid told Traci, "if you want him to fall in love with you and not some random passerby, ya gotta be the first person he sees after this arrow hits his rump. Got it?"

"Got it," Traci said. She looked relieved to duck out of the foliage and make her way over towards Michael until she was barely ten feet from him and right in his line of sight. There was no way he would see anybody but her after the arrow "hit his rump".

Marie locked her eyes on Cupid as he retrieved an arrow with a bright red tip from the completely-subtle hot pink quiver slung on his back. He fitted the arrow into his bow and raised his arms, drawing back the string. Marie held her breath, cringing as Cupid released the string and the arrow began to fly towards Michael.

'_Well_,' she thought sourly, '_I guess Traci gets her guy_.'

Except, that wasn't what happened. Because just as Cupid released the string, he stumbled, his foot caught on a tree branch that had broken off of a tree and was laying on the ground, and fell over, crashing into the bushes nearby while the arrow flew off target and, much to Traci and Marie's horror, hit a brown haired girl sitting directly to the right of Michael.

/*\*/*\

"Reyna?" Leo Valdez cried. his expression full of panic. He knelt down and frantically turned her body over so she was laying on her back while he leaned over her face, peering down at her. Her face was pale, her eyes closed. He guessed she was passed out.

"What the heck?" Michael demanded. He gazed down at his half-sister's crumpled figure, his face masked with horror.

"Get help," Leo commanded. When Michael made no move to do so, Leo raised his voice. "Now!"

Michael raced off the get help. Romans began crowding around, talking amongst themselves, staring and pointing.

"Isn't that that one of the Greeks?" somebody asked in a hushed voice.

"Is that praetor Reyna?" somebody else demanded.

"What is _he_ doing taking care of her?" a /lar/ shrieked, looking at Leo like he were disease-ridden vermin.

Leo ignored them all, focusing on Reyna's face, her eyes, the bridge of her nose, anything but the ugly arrow protruding from her leg. But finally one of the whispers caught his attention:

"Why is there no blood?"

Steeling his nerves, Leo shifted his eyes down to her leg. His jaw loosened and his face went slack. Where he was sure there should have been a wound with blood slowly dripping out of it was nothing. Just the tip of the arrow stuck into her skin like nothing more than an abnormally large splinter. No blood. No nothing.

Leo barely had time to wonder at this, though, because Reyna's eyelids were slowly fluttering open. Their eyes met, hers so dark and unreadable, making him want to look at them forever until he understood what lay behind them. He waited for her to make some sort of movement or say something, but she just kept staring at him.

And then she started giggling.

/*\*/*\

"What do you mean, nothing's wrong with her?" Leo said incredulously, staring at the Roman doctor. After about a minute of non-stop giggling, Reyna had promptly passed out cold. Leo and Michael, who arrived a heartbeat later with a doctor, had carried her to a clinic in New Rome. She had remained unconscious while the doctor, a woman of about 30 or so who's name tag read Dr. de Grue, pulled out the arrow and inspected the wound closely. She had declared that the arrow looked to have barely pierced Reyna's skin, and that Reyna would be same as always within a day or so. Dr. de Grue didn't even know why Reyna was unconscious, but she assumed that it was due to shock.

"I mean, nothing is wrong with her," Dr. de Grue repeated. She took off her square-shaped glasses and cleaned them on her sleeve.

"But she's passed out," Leo insisted. "And she just got shot with a freaking arrow."

"Language," Dr. de Grue said sternly, reminding Leo strangely of an old foster mother of his who was probably the strictest woman in the world when it came to dental cleanliness.

"Oh, whatever." Leo rolled his eyes.

Dr. de Gure sighed. "I really don't know."

"What about the arrow?" Michael piped up from in the corner. He was sitting on a stool, staring intently at the red tip of the arrow that Dr. de Grue had set aside. "Who would have been shooting at anybody in Camp Jupiter? Especially _Reyna_?"

"Maybe someone just had very bad aim when practicing archery," Dr. de Grue suggested.

"No way," Michael argued. "The only people who do archery in Camp Jupiter are the Apollo kids and that Frank Zhang guy, and they all have perfect aim."

"May I see the arrow?" Dr. de Grue asked. She held out her hand and Michael handed the arrow to her carefully. She held it close to her face, peering at it and angling it so she could see every side. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she released a sharp hiss of breath. "Oh, my..."

"What?" Leo asked immediately. He looked up from Reyna, who he had been gazing at blankly as his mind raced.

"This arrow..." Dr. de Grue sank into onto another stool, setting the arrow aside on a table.

"What about it? Is it poisoned, or something?" Michael asked, looking horrified at the very thought.

Dr. de Grue ignored the question, instead looking at Leo with wide eyes. "Who was the first person she looked at when she opened her eyes?" she demanded seriously. Leo thought back, picturing the events of earlier. The arrow flying out of nowhere, Reyna laying un-movingly on the ground, Leo crouching down beside her and panicking...and then her eyes opening and meeting Leo's own for a brief moment before she began giggling insanely.

"Me, I think," Leo said in answer to Dr. de Grue's question. Was it just him, or did the corners of the doctor's mouth twitch upwards in a grin?

"Well, then, Mr. Valdez," she said slowly, "I do believe that you have yourself an admirer."

"Umm...excuse me?" Leo raised an eyebrow at the woman. He shared a bemused look with Michael as Dr. de Grue chuckled quietly.

"The arrow," she explained when she finally stopped laughing, "is no ordinary arrow. It is a _love_ arrow, from Cupid's own quiver."

"Reyna got shot with a love arrow?" Realization washed over Leo like a tidal wave.

"Yes," Dr. de Grue confirmed. "And since you were the first person she saw after she was shot..." she trailed off, but Leo didn't need her to finish the sentence in order for him to understand.

"Holy crap," he whispered. "Reyna...is in love with me."

/*\*/*\

"It's not real love, Leo," Dr. de Grue assured him for the thousandth time. "It's artificial love. More like raw adoration than anything developed over time like real love usually does."

"Yeah, that makes it _so_ much less complicated," Leo snapped. He closed his eyes while leaning against the side of the clinic building, blocking out the sun and the sight of the streets of New Rome. Blocking out Dr. de Grue's sympathetic and yet amused expression. Blocking out Michael, who wasn't bothering to disguise the laughter that convulsed his body.

"Oh, shut up," he was told by Leo, who sounded very much like a whining child. Michael ignored the order and continued guffawing over Leo's predicament. He apparently found it quite hilarious.

"Don't worry," Dr. de Grue told Leo. "It won't last forever."

"It won't?" Leo looked up hopefully.

"No," Dr. de Grue assured him. "For one thing, the arrow was barely inside of her system; it practically only grazed her skin and lodged itself in the edge, away from any major veins and arteries. For another thing, there are ways to make the magic wear off."

"Like what?"

"Like staying away from Reyna for very long periods of time," Dr. de Grue suggested. "If she's not around you, the magic will begin to fade. Granted, it will take time..."

"How long?" Leo asked, his heart sinking again.

"Er..." Dr. de Grue smiled sheepishly. "Somewhere around, say...three to five weeks?"

"_Three to five weeks_?" Leo repeated in disbelief. "I-no! Reyna's a praetor! She's in charge of all sorts of stuff. What will happen if she's being completely unlike herself?"

"You'll just have to find a way to cover for her." Dr. de Grue shrugged helplessly. "I might suggest telling somebody else about this - somebody you trust. Somebody smart."

"Somebody smart..." Leo thought hard for a minute and then nodded. "Alright. I'll tell my friend Annabeth. She's smart. She'll help me."

"Good." Dr. de Grue offered him a small smile. "Best of luck, Mr. Valdez."

/*\*/*\

Leo found Annabeth outside on Temple Hill, where she was inspecting the temple to Minerva, who was the Roman counterpart of her own mother, Athena. She looked up when she heard him approaching and waved in greeting.

"Hey," Leo said. His hands were jammed in the pockets of his jeans, fingering a few random screws he had stuffed in them at one point. The warm metal felt strangely comforting to the son of Hephaestus's touch; familiar and soothing. "What's up?"

"Checking out the architecture on these Roman structures," Annabeth replied. "It's interesting to see the differences and similarities between their style of building and the Greeks'."

"Oh. That's, um, nice," Leo commented. Annabeth tucked a blond piece of stray hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.

"Yep. What's up with you, Leo?" she asked. Apparently her amazingly smart daughter of Athena senses had told her that Leo was stressed out and in need of her help. Or maybe she just noticed the slump of his shoulders and weary look in his eyes.

"I need your help, Annabeth." Leo poured out the entire story to her. She listened attentively, not commenting until he had finished and was waiting for her to speak.

"Wow," the girl said lightly.

"Yeah. Wow," Leo agreed with a sigh.

"What do you need my help with?" Annabeth asked. Leo felt a wave of relief crash over him. So she _would_ help him, then.

"I need you to keep Reyna way from me," he told her. "Dr. de Grue said that if Reyna stays away from me for long periods of time, then the love magic or whatever will start to wear off."

Annabeth nodded. "Okay...but, Leo, you do realize that Reyna is praetor, right? Who's going to take over for her until she's back to being herself?"

"I don't know." Leo leaned against the side of the temple to Minerva, closing his eyes tight and screwing up his face while he thought. He could only see one possible conclusion, short of Octavian being elected praetor.

"It'll have to be Jason," he decided. "After all, he was the praetor before he got sent to the Greeks and Percy replaced him, right?"

"Right," Annabeth agreed. "Jason will be fine as praetor until Reyna is back to normal. But what will we tell the Romans is wrong with Reyna? I have a feeling you don't want them all to know that Reyna is in 'love' with you." She grinned slightly. Leo rolled his eyes at her.

"Umm...we can tell them that she..." Leo shrugged desperately. "Hey, you're the genius. _You_ come up with some lie."

"We'll tell them that Reyna got a weird allergic reaction to something she ate, and that she'll be out of commission for a while," Annabeth said decidedly. Leo gave her a look of grudging admiration at her ingeniousness.

"Thanks, Annabeth."

"Anytime, Leo."

Leo waved goodbye and walked away down Temple Hill, leaving Annabeth to her architectural stuff.

"This," he muttered to himself, "is going to be a long few months..."

/*\*/*\

**A/N: R&R?**

**-Hyper **


	2. Of Morals and Midnight Snacks

**A/N: ...I have absolutely no excuse other than lack of inspiration.**

* * *

><p>Annabeth Chase was not one to back down from a challenge. Since before she was even 12, she had faced hellhounds, furies, dracaena, angry Greek deities, and, more recently, she had made an enemy of all cows, and had told her mother that she was dating her rival's son.<p>

So why couldn't she deal with a lovestruck Roman girl?

"Reyna." The blond snapped her fingers sharply in front of the other girl's face. Reyna blinked twice and glanced at Annabeth, her lips protruding into a pout.

"Where's Leo?" she asked for what must have been the 30th time that hour alone.

"I don't know where Leo is!" Annabeth threw her hands into the air in exasperation.

"But you said that he was on the moon!" Reyna argued. Annabeth made a mental note to refrain from using sarcasm around Reyna until she was more mentally stable. "When is he getting back?"

"In...three to five weeks," Annabeth sighed. She slumped against the wall of Reyna's living room, pinching the bridge of her nose. Reyna was seated on her sofa with an impatient look on her face (and her hand tied to the coffee table leg with a rope to keep her from running away to find Leo).

"I don't want to wait that long," Reyna whined. The girl had been acting like a five-year-old in a teenager's body, wanting only to find Leo, asking when Leo would be back, occasionally calling Annabeth a rude name in Latin. All in all, the daughter of Athena was certain that Reyna would be horrified to learn how she had acted when she was back to normal.

"Well, you have to," Annabeth snapped. While Reyna continued to pout like Annabeth's step-brothers when they couldn't have cookies before dinner, Annabeth glanced at the bronze clock resting on Reyna's small bookshelf in the corner, and mentally thanked every god and goddess she could think of - it was almost late enough for Annabeth to make Reyna go to sleep.

"Well, I don't want to."

"Well, too bad."

"Well, futete!"

Getting told "eff you" in Latin. That was a new one to cross off her bucket list.

"Well, time for bed," said Annabeth with a smug smile. Reyna's expression immediately turned into one of hope.

"Will Leo be there?" she wanted to know. Annabeth chuckled for the first time all day.

"I can assure you, Reyna, that despite how much he might want to, Leo will not be in bed with you."

Annabeth almost felt like she should take a picture of the devastated look Reyna gave her.

/*\*/*\

"I am a moral human being, I am a moral human being, I am a moral human being, I am a moral human-"

"Technically, you're a moral half-human-and-half-god," Michael interjected. Leo made a strangled crying sound in reply to that statement.

"Whatever. All I know is that Reyna is in love with me and I'm sitting here. In a cabin. That Reyna - who is in love with me - is not in. And I could kind of use some love right now."

"Oh, quit whining," said Michael with a roll of his eyes. The boy flopped down beside Leo on his bunk bed, taking a break from bouncing a little rubber ball against the wall and catching it. "I said I was sorry."

"You will be if it turns out I will never have children because you hit me where it hurts with a baseball," Leo shot back, flinching at the memory. Michael snickered and Leo flicked his arm before sighing heavily and leaning against the wall. "I hate having morals. Morals suck."

"But wouldn't you rather Reyna love you for real and not because she got shot with an arrow?" Michael batted his eyelashes.

Leo stared. "Well, to be honest, if it was between Reyna being fake in love with me and Reyna ignoring me like I were gum on a sidewalk, I really think the choice is obvious."

"For a weaker man. But you? No, Leo Valdez...you have _morals_." Michael's mouth twitched as if he were holding back laughter.

"Ugh, I hate it that you're right," Leo groaned. "Damn my morals!"

"Since when do you have morals?" Percy appeared in the doorway. A playful smirk presented itself on his face as he stumbled into the cabin and stretched out on his bunk bed on the other side of the room. He groaned as the weight left his legs. "Gods, those Romans are good sword-fighters..."

"Thanks," Michael said.

"No, not you, you're like a walking nightmare when you have a _butterknife_, let alone a sword, Mr. I-Didn't-Mean-To-Knock-That-Over-Oops-I-Really-Didn't-Mean-To-Bump-Into-You-Oh-Gosh-I'm-So-Sorry-It-Was-An-Accident-I'm-Just-Really-Clumsy," Percy grumbled.

"Imagine having that on your driver's license," Leo remarked. Michael frowned.

"Shut up and go back to pining over Reyna."

"Isn't that what he spends the majority of his time doing?" Percy pointed out. Leo was about to deny that statement, when he thought for a moment and, realizing that Percy was right, decided that silence was his best option.

"Speaking of Reyna, has anybody seen her or Annabeth at all today?" Percy added thoughtfully. "Because usually they're breathing down their respective camp's necks, but I haven't seen either of them since breakast."

Leo shared a glance with Michael, who just raised an eyebrow at him with a look that said "your mess, not mine."

"Reyna...got food poisoning. Annabeth's looking after her."

"Oh, okay. Weird, there was a rumor going around that she got shot with an arrow or something..." Percy just rolled his eyes. "The things people think up."

Leo chuckled almost mechanically in response. "Yeah, Percy. I know what you mean. Sometimes it feels like we're living in a bad sitcom..."

/*\*/*\

Annabeth had finally gotten Reyna (handcuffed) into her bed. Now maybe she could get some peace and rest. The blonde had just gotten comfortable on the couch back in the living room when she realized something. Or, more like a fierce growling made her realize something.

She hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning.

She buried her face in a green throw pillow and tried to ignore the sounds her stomach was making, but it was no use. With a sigh, she peeled herself off of the sofa and wandered into the adjoining kitchen.

It was a tiny little space, packed with a sink, an oven, and a few white cupboards with peeling paint suspended above the fixtures. Annabeth peered inside the cupboards, hoping to find maybe cereal, but no, they were empty, save for a few spiderwebs and something that looked suspiciously like moldy cheese.

"Because it can never be just that easy," Annabeth hissed. She made her way to the front door and slid on her sneakers, cringing when she stepped on a painfully squeaky floorboard.

"Who's there?" a sleepy voice called from down the hall. Annabeth could have kicked herself. Even when they're half-asleep and intoxicated by love magic, Romans had good survival instincts.

"Just me, Annabeth," the daughter of Athena called back.

"Oh...what're you doing?"

"Going to get food..." Annabeth responded awkwardly.

"Ooh, take me with you!" came the excited reply. "Maybe Leo's there!"

"He won't be, Reyna. Just stay here..."

"No! I'm hungry, too."

Annabeth sighed and trudged down the hall, taking out Swiss army knife out of the pocket of her jeans as she went, because she was pretty sure that with her current exhausted and famished state of mind, she wouldn't be able to untie the tight knots that restrained the lovesick Roman.

/*\*/*\

Leo woke up at around midnight to a loud snarling sound coming from very close by. He sat bolt upright and instinctively balled his fists, whipping his head from left to right as he tried to peer into the dark and find the source of the sound. There was silence for one frightening moment, and then the sound came again. This time Leo felt the accompanying sensation in his abdomen, and realized with a start that the sound was coming from him.

Now, Leo's mother had never really approved of his nighttime snacking habits, but she had also never really done anything about it other than helping him pour cereal when he was so tired he'd probably spill milk all over the kitchen floor. So it was with little regret that Leo slipped his shoes on over his bare feet and headed out of the cabin and towards the mess hall.

It was a clear night, a crescent moon hanging over his head like a cardboard cutout in a 2nd grade school play, with stars surrounding it, scattered all across the sky. The grass was long and tickled his ankles lightly while he padded along. The air was warm and sticky and kind of reminded him of nights out with Piper and Jason back at the Wilderness school, when they would climb up on the roof, stare at the stars, sleep only when they were too exhausted to keep talking, and wake up at 5:00 to crawl back into their beds before they were caught. His felt a little pang in his heart, but shook it off, determined not to dwell on what had been.

The hinges of the door to the mess hall were, thankfully, well oiled, and didn't give even the slightest creak when Leo swung the door open and slipped in. The large room was bathed in moonlight from the windows. He shivered at but managed to ignore the eerie shadows cast by the tables and chairs. The things he made the shadows out to be were only figments of his imagination, he reminded himself dutifully. That wasn't a three-headed dog in the corner, there were no boogie-men to be seen, and those certainly were not two girls eating cereal over there-

Wait. Yes, yes they were.

"Annabeth?" Leo squinted, recognizing the orange t-shirt that was illuminated by the bit of light (Annabeth was the only Greek who insisted on wearing her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt everyday, while the other Greeks enjoyed being able to wear something other than the "uniform" while they were in Camp Jupiter.)

The girl looked up, and Leo barely heard her horrified hiss of, "Leo?" when something drilled into his chest, knocking him onto his back with a solid _thud_.

"The hell?" he gasped, pushing the weight off of him and struggling to sit up.

"Leo! Leo!" a girl's voice echoed throughout the empty hall, volume apparently being of no concern to her. "Annabeth lied! She said you wouldn't be here, but you are!"

"What?" Leo rubbed his eyes with his fists and a wave of horrified realization washed over him.

"Oh...crap...hi, Reyna..."

"Hi, Leo!"

/*\*/*\

"What do we do with her?" Annabeth wanted to know. Leo gave a moody shrug.

"I'm open to any ideas you've got, Wise Girl. But seriously, this is kind of creepy. Usually I'm the one doing the whole obsessive-to-the-point-of-being-a-stalker thing. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm not all that surprised that I've never had a girlfriend if I've always played it like Reyna is right now," he admitted, looking down at the daughter of Bellona curled up on his lap.

Annabeth snorted and nodded in agreement before turning serious. "Really, though, you can't keep away from her forever, and every time she sees you it's like all progress disappears and she starts over."

"Well, we'll just have to find a way to make sure that Reyna and I don't run into each other," Leo determined.

"I think I know what we can try," Annabeth said slowly, "...but you're not going to like it."

"What?" Leo felt a sneaking suspicion, and it filled him with dread.

"We can't do this on our own, Leo. I think it's time we enlist some help."

/*\*/*\

"Okay, let me get this straight." Percy looked like a child on Christmas morning. "Reyna actually did get shot with an arrow? One of Cupid's arrows? And now she's in love with Leo? I'm sorry, but I actually fail to see the problem in this situation."

Leo shot Annabeth a glare. "I told you he'd react like this."

"I never said he wouldn't," Annabeth countered. "But at least he's willing to help, right, Percy?"

"'Course I will," Percy said. "I wouldn't miss a second of this train wreck for the world."

"Um. Thanks. I think," Leo said. He turned to the few other assembled demigods. "What about you guys?"

"All we have to do is keep Reyna and you apart, right?" Piper asked. Leo nodded. "Right, that shouldn't be too hard. I'm in."

"This should be interesting." Frank looked torn between poking Reyna and running away as she grinned at him, while still latched into Leo's arm.

"I'll help," Hazel offered. Leo smiled at her.

"As long as it gets Reyna back to normal," Jason said. He was the only one of the assembled who didn't seem to find this situation at all amusing. On the contrary, he wore a deep-set scowl, and there was an unfamiliar hardness in his eyes that startled even Piper.

"Thank you, guys." Leo felt a surge of affection for his friends, so willing to help him out of even the strangest of situations. He glanced down and saw Reyna beaming up at him. His heart gave a strange twist.

Because even when she was practically drunk, Reyna could take his breath away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And on that Leyna-y note, I say thank you for everybody's patience and support :) **

**Also, if anybody's annoyed that I threw an OC in there, lemme know and I'll be sure to slowly take him out of the equation. **

**- Hyper**


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